Story and pix by Mary Jane Farmer. Click on the link for many photos of all the week’s musicians. And with apologies to contender Aaron King for not getting good pictures of him.

The preliminaries are over in the Hank’s Texas Grill 3rd Open Mic Competition, being held every Wednesday in December. There are now 16 musicians moving into the next round, Dec. 19.

The past two Wednesdays (Dec. 5 and 12), had a total of 30 musicians enter, with five of them returning this past week for a second shot at the chance to progress in the next and, hopefully, to the final round and the grand prizes.

Four of those five returnees, Adrian Johnston, Katie Lamb, Tanner Usury, and Kyle James Dunlap, were successful in that endeavor, and are moving on. Others selected this week were Trace Thompson, Mr. Troll, Jim Stewart, and Nick Adams. One tie showed up between Dunlap and contender Aaron King, and each performed a couple more songs. Then, it was up to the crowd to select which one moved on, and Dunlap came out on top of that sing-off.

Hank’s Texas Grill hosts a well-attended open mic each Wednesday and has for years.

Participants can perform their own original songs or cover songs, and can have accompanists with them, if they want to. Prizes include a paid gig on the Hank’s stage. Previous winners are, Kyle Thompson (mentioned above) and Aubrey Lynn England.

Hosts are Ronnie Scott, Tyler Rogers, and Travis Parker, and are also kick-off artists and judges. Music starts around the 8 p.m. hour. Hank’s is on the southeast corner of U.S. 75 and White Avenue in McKinney.

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